Young blues musician Adia Victoria is a self-proclaimed “back porch blues, swamp cat lady, howlin’ at the moon.” Born in South Carolina and currently based out of Nashville, Tennessee, Victoria sings about the South in a soft, sweet tone, but she can turn suddenly by cranking up the energy, stomping her feet and wailing through […]
Young blues musician Adia Victoria is a self-proclaimed “back porch blues, swamp cat lady, howlin’ at the moon.” Born in South Carolina and currently based out of Nashville, Tennessee, Victoria sings about the South in a soft, sweet tone, but she can turn suddenly by cranking up the energy, stomping her feet and wailing through […]
“Style over substance” is not generally a criticism that sticks to Michael Mann, a singular voice among directors for his unique take on suspense and action. Though there is no shortage of machine gun fire and high speed chases in his films, Mann gives equal weight to small moments of tension or introspection, gorgeous scenery […]
17th century spy and playwright Aphra Behn’s work returns to the American Shakespeare Center with a production of The Rover (subtitled The Banish’d Cavaliers), a romantic romp through the Naples Carnival. Rakish naval captain Willmore finds himself trapped in a love triangle filled with convents, courtesans and mistaken identities. From thieves and prostitutes to nuns […]
It’s a cold world out there for trash. The wrap on your grab-and-go sandwich, the scratched CDs and ’80s Walkman, the broken toys and worn-out furniture and colorful detritus of rich, fast-paced lives are doomed to collect in landfills, antique shops and garbage-strewn street corners—unless an artist comes along. “In 1992, my neighbor was throwing […]
Jazz player and UVA music professor Robert Jospé has some pretty far-out ideas about music. But Stephen Nachmanovitch, the man who’ll join Jospé onstage for a completely improvised concert on January 24 at UVA’s Brooks Hall, makes him seem like an accountant in a conservative suit. “My early musical experiences were in the classical music […]
In 2012, Amelia Meath (Mountain Man) joined Nick Sanborn (Megafun) in Durham, North Carolina to collaborate on a song, and even though they had their own respective projects, they agreed there was something special between them, and eventually Sylvan Esso was born. The duo released its self-titled debut album in 2014, resulting in a 10-song […]
Escape the arctic blast with Kawehi, the hottest one-woman band out of Lawrence, Kansas. This firecracker of a songwriter focuses on social injustice and doesn’t mince words in describing herself as a “shit talker” and “musician who walks like a trucker.” She also walks the talk by looping guitars, keys and beatboxing on innovative, themed […]
Two stories come out of Nashville. The first one is: The town is full of amazing singer-songwriters, and you can see one of them playing on any given night at any corner bar. The second goes like this: The stars of modern country aren’t those same singer-songwriters; they’re the good-looking young people who can put […]
Craig Jennings didn’t know Hannah Graham. But last fall, “after she disappeared under the eyes of cameras on the Downtown Mall, I couldn’t stop thinking about what her family was going through,” said Jennings, the choral director at Burley Middle School. That feeling grew stronger as days turned into weeks, and Jennings watched his students […]
Among the many artistic and political accomplishments of Ava DuVernay’s Selma is the full embodiment of grassroots activism. After generations of society’s dismantling of the breadth of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s political and ethical contributions down to a single sound bite (that is routinely misappropriated), DuVernay has done King and the world a favor by […]